Take it to the Streets tells the story of the Transformation of Regular Women to Show Stopping Beauties through the eyes of a Ghanaian International model,

Viasat1 Ghana in collaboration with Brand Woman Africa, is on a quest to explore and celebrate women through the power of the Beauty, Fashion and Style Industries in Africa. Take It To The Streets, is a Make over show, which combines both the light and entertaining aspect of effects of professionally styled Hair, Clothing and Make Up, with the in depth essence of Dreams and the quest to achieve and accomplish them. In its first season, 13 women have been nominated by friends and family who believe they need a Make Over, just by virtue of the fact that they are beautiful on the inside and need some help seeing their outer beauty. Season One is hosted by Ghanaian International Supermodel Belinda Baidoo, whose own personal story of having a dream and forcefully chasing after it on the streets of Accra, Milan, New York, Paris, London and many more cosmopolitan cities, lends itself to the essence of appreciating oneself a lot more. The episodes combine location and studio filming, in which the women are transformed, followed by a brief discussion where Belinda tries to support them in realizing their dreams! Belinda is ably supported by six promising industry professionals – Sandi Owusu, Karen Kane, Selina Apau – Asante , Shirley Ann Owusu and Ashiakie Momo.

Off the success of its own productions such as The One Show, This Morning, Boys Boys and A Day in the Life, Viasat1 has began looking at a wide spectrum of TV production possibilities which combine social issues with entertaining elements.

“The launch of Take it To the Streets falls in line with our plan to continue to deliver exciting and innovative programming across the continent of Africa. The show is created to be short, sweet and impactful. We have developed stories from people from all walks of life, with varied stories but the same essence. We hope that every episode will indeed tell its unique story of success packaged with what we as Africans love the most – beauty, fashion and wellness.The Beauty of Africa right now is that everyone is watching us. The world is calling us the EMERGING market because we have so much promise. So as Viasat1, this is a way to make a contribution in an entertaining way!” says Sadiq Abdulai Abu, Executive Producer, Viasat 1 Ghana.The Series format is being created and developed by Anita Erskine’s BrandWoman Africa.

“Over the last two years, I have become so passionate about producing socially conscious television programming. The reality is, I’m consistently surrounded by elements of Africa that make me excited about where the continent is going. At the same time there are issues I feel we must all boldly face and speak openly about. Now is the time. When else? So Viasat1 needed a format that would lend itself to the story of the Modern African woman – her inner and outer beauty, all the while also paying homage to the ever competitive but blossoming Beauty and Fashion industries in Africa. So I thought Take it To The Streets, would do it! ” says Anita Erskine – Amaizo, CEO of Brand Woman Africa.

                                                                                     Viasat1 has confirmed media mogul and presenter Anita Erskine would be the new face of its flagship lifestyle programme, The One Show when it resumes in October 2014, taking over from Joselyn Dumas and PY Addo Boateng. After seven (7) successful seasons of the talk show, Viasat1 is set to reposition the show in order to take it to new heights. Joselyn and PY, both of whom have been very instrumental in the success of the show, are exploring greater opportunities, following a mutual understanding between them and the station. Joselyn Dumas was first to host The One Show in 2010, and was later joined by PY in 2011. Both are likely to work on other exciting projects with Viasat1 in the future. Jocelyn’s flagship international talk show “At Home with Jocelyn Dumas” is already on air on Viasat1 with plans for the star to develop other key projects for the channel in the near future. The new host, Anita Erskine, brings to the show a vast range of experience, having had a stint to TV presentation. Anita was part of the team that produced the early seasons of The One Show, so she is naturally inclined with the details. The bi-lingual Anita Erskine also hosts “Making Of A Mogul”, ”Cooking With….” and “Pamper Your Mum” – three popular shows on the DSTV platform, championing the “Best Of Africa” brand.

– See more at: http://viasat1.com.gh/vone/news/entertainmentmain.php?postId=140#sthash.XbkZZ930.1cRDZeWS.dpuf

#Brand #Woman #Africa Stand up!

Anita Erskine – Amaizo began her career as a TV presenter and has now added the roles of Producer, Entrepreneur, Wife and Mother to her career and life commitments.

In her work, Anita balances hosting live events for Multi nationals and running her media production company, Brand Woman Africa. These roles require a lot of travelling and interacting with people from all over Africa.

Over time, one of Anita’s most important focuses has become her passion for empowering and education the next generation of Young African Women.

As such, when the Vlisco Woman of the Month Award nomination came along, Anita knew instantly what she would use this unique opportunity to do. Combining her resources, career and voice, with that of some of her most valued relationships, Anita began raising funds to donate to her one true passion, which is what she now calls, the Promise of Africa. She believes the Promise of Africa is the continent’s most unexplored resource – the Women.

Anita’s commitment to education girls and women, is coming to life, as she ends her campaign with this donation to three causes. These causes are :

• Young Women in Skills Training here at OIC

• Young girls and education at the The Arthur Educational complex located in Wiaga, a town in the Builsa North district of the Upper East Region of Ghana, which is an institution supported by the BMY-Network to bring quality education to the poor, especially the girl child.

• The African Womens Development Fund,a grant making foundation that supports local, national and regional women’s organisations working towards the empowerment of African women and the promotion and realisation of their rights.

Over the last month, Anita has been campaigning to win the Vlisco Woman of the Month Award, created by Vlisco a year ago. Aptly themed the Dare to Dream campaign, Vlisco Women’s Month celebrates inspiring women in West and Central Africa during the whole month of March. This year’s theme is DARE TO DREAM, a tribute to women who have the faith and courage to realise their dreams. Vlisco has nominated women with outstanding achievements in West and Central Africa. Elected by public vote, the winners will be revealed on April 5.

      On March 28, Anita launched the Anita Erskine Vlisco Dream Fund by  making two donations. The first, was made to the OIC, where along with the staff and instructors of OIC, Anita chose 5 students with immense potential, but in dire need a financial push in order to realize their dreams! Each student received a full scholarship, which represents 2 years of Skills training at OIC.

 The second will be to little Thelma Adiita, who came all the way from the Upper East to receive her scholarship. After the fund was granted to Thelma, the OIC students came together in what became a mammoth fundraising for Thelma’s cause and that of the 10 other young children in the the The Arthur Educational complex located in Wiaga, a town in the Builsa North district of the Upper East Region of Ghana.

Altogether, Anita made a donation of a total of 5000 Ghs to both causes and said,

“ I am a firm believer in education. My dream is to empower more and more Africans through Education. Vlisco gave me the inspiration to do this through my nomination and some of my loyal friends, clients and close affiliates such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ecobank, Hannah and Bel Aquah, Michael Amankwaa among others helped me to do this! I’m in awe. I am now convinced more than ever, that I am indeed doing the right thing in my life!”

#BrandWomanAfrica

The Faith Hope Love Family Service Association Project based in Hawassa, Ethiopia has enlisted the aid of AWDF to help it achieve its goal of empowering women and OVCs towards HIV/AIDS prevention and controlling efforts.

AWDF, along with the Association, has provided training and start-up capital to many disadvantaged women across the African continent. This program gives women social, economic, psychological and health empowerment so that they can develop a way of earning a stable income, to support themselves and their families

Mrs. Tirunigo Samie pictured above with her main source of income, her cattle.

Mrs. Tirunigo Samie is one of the beneficiaries of the AWDF/Faith Hope Love Family Service Association project. She is HIV Sero-positive and a mother of five children. Her husband died six years ago and she now cares for her children independently. Before joining the AWDF programme, she had no source of income and had not been able to find employment due to her deteriorating health condition.  As a result, her children were not attending school, she could not feed them and could not afford to pay their fees.  At best, her children were fed once a day by a neighbour. She sent some of her children to the street and some of them to her relatives.

Brand Woman Africa

Link:

http://www.awdf.org/grantee-highlight-faith-hope-love-family-service-association/